Consolation Prize
by Dana Hale
Summary: How could she NOT wear the shirt?
1. Chapter 1

She blamed it on the buzz from the drinks she had at Fireside. She really should be crying right now. The kind of ugly crying that includes devouring an entire package of Oreo cookies while sulking on the couch in baggy sweat pants as your mascara runs down your pathetic sad looking face. After all, her boyfriend dumped her today. And for a very unfair stupid reason, in her opinion. But instead, she stumbled into her apartment just a little after 1:00 am with a smile on her face.

Maybe it wasn't the drinks that made her current mood happy, she thought, as she switched on the light. It's not like she just lost her best friend. Nope. She still had him. Maybe not the way she really wanted him, but it did her heart good to spend some time off duty with Jamie tonight- even after trying to push him away earlier. She could always trust him to butt into her life to "fix" things, try as she may to discourage him from doing so. She found it both annoying and comforting at the same time, knowing that he would always have her back like that. He knew just what to say to make her feel better tonight.

She set her duffle bag on the dining table and smiled some more as she remembered a certain article of clothing that she had tucked in there earlier. Undoing the zipper of the bag, she unfolded the pink cotton shirt and once again read the gaudy sparkly phrase written on it. "I kick ass." Her consolation prize.

With girly excitement, she ran into the bathroom to quickly put on the shirt. Staring at herself in the mirror, she realized that Jamie didn't just buy this particular shirt on a whim. He actually had put some thought into this purchase. It was just the right size. It was pink (one of her favorite colors). It was V-neck to show off her cleavage (which she purposefully was in the habit of doing around Jamie lately, hoping he would notice- and now she knew he did). And the phrase written on it was just for her. It spoke of what he thought of her, which was nothing like what Josh thought of her. It was the recognition she had been longing for from a man.

How could she NOT wear this shirt?

She finished getting ready for bed by keeping the shirt on and swapping out her jeans for her yoga pants. Climbing under her warm covers, she wondered again for the millionth time how much longer she would have to wait for Jamie to admit that they belong together.

* * *

Stopped at a red light on his way home to Brooklyn Heights, Jamie had his mind on the one person he always had his mind on- Eddie.

He saw it coming. He knew from the start that Josh didn't deserve her. While he hated to see her get hurt by some guy who was never going to appreciate the awesome person that she is, he breathed a sigh of relief at the fact that she could be labeled "single" again. Although that fact made him feel guilty; he had no right to be happy about that, because she deserved to have _someone_. But that someone couldn't be him because of the professional boundaries in place. He wondered how much longer he could last with this arrangement.

His mind wandered back to the kiss she instigated only just a few weeks ago. He had wanted to kiss her again for the longest time. The passion that he felt from her was the same passion that was ignited in him, and it still had him reeling. He wondered how she could kiss him like that one minute and the next minute be sleeping with a guy like Josh. Did Josh really mean that much to her, or was he just a distraction?

His phone buzzed with another text from Caroline, reminding him that he really needed to find a way to let her down gently. He already had enough distraction in his life.

The car behind him honked which made him look up at the light that had turned green a while ago. Reaching for the stick shift to throw it from first into second, he noticed Eddie had left her small purse in the console. He wouldn't be seeing her again until Monday, and he knew she would need it before then. So even though it was late, he smiled to himself, happy to have an excuse to go back to see her. He turned his Mustang around and headed toward Jersey.

* * *

Jamie _almost_ felt bad for knocking on her door so late knowing that she was probably sleeping. But not bad enough. Especially when she answered the door half asleep looking adorable and wearing _that shirt_.

"Jamie? God, what are you doing here…it's late. Is everything okay?" she stammered as she rubbed her eyes trying to keep them open.

"Everything's fine. Sorry to wake you," he said as a huge smile formed on his face, taking in her appearance.

She could feel him staring at her and she wondered why he was just standing there with such a goofy grin on his face. She was instantly annoyed. "Well?" she snipped, waiting for him to say something.

"Well what?" he laughed.

Eddie yawned and stretched her arms over head which made her chest stick out more prominently than normal, making the words of her shirt "I Kick Ass" gleam in Jamie's eyes. She ran her hands through her bed-head hairdo, fluffing up her hair which left it even more unkempt than before.

"Why are you here?"

Jamie had a full-on smirk on his face. "Oh. Um….you forgot your purse. Thought I'd bring it to you now since I won't be seeing you until Monday."

Taking her purse from him, she smiled and said, "Wow. My hero. I'm swooning."

"Yeah, I get that reaction a lot."

"Smart ass." Eddie was more awake now and was really confused by the look on his face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," he chuckled. "Go back to bed. See you Monday."

"Okay…" she hesitated. "No really, WHAT?"

"Nice shirt." Jamie pointed.

Eddie looked down at herself and realized what she was wearing. "Oh. Oh Crap," she whispered as she closed her eyes in shame at being caught.

"Looks good on you!"

Eddie opened her eyes and smiled back at him when she noticed his eyes were roaming her body. She was suddenly in the mood to flirt. "What's underneath looks even better."

Jamie accepted the challenge. "Don't I know it. You've only been giving me an eyeful of it for the past month."

"Guilty as charged," she shrugged. "Didn't think you'd notice."

"I notice," he said seriously.

She stared back at him with that look that always makes him want to kiss her. He felt the pull, and the more he stared into her eyes the more he realized that she wanted him to. And he really wanted to.

He cleared his throat. "I'm…gonna...go now. See you Monday."

The spell was broken. Eddie nodded. "Okay. See you Monday." She watched him walk down the hall out of sight and then closed her door.

And for the millionth time, Jamie wondered how much longer he could fight his feelings.


	2. Chapter 2

18 Years Later…

Natalie purposefully slammed the door behind her as loud as possible as she burst into the kitchen in a teenage rage. She threw her book bag onto the counter where her dad was preparing the salad for dinner.

"Men!" she screamed. Her face was beet red, fuming in anger.

"What'd he do? I'll kill him." Jamie immediately stopped slicing the carrots and stared at his daughter, waiting for an answer.

Eddie finished putting the chicken in the oven. "Uh oh. I know that look. What happened honey?"

"I'm so….so….UGH! I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!" Natalie balled her hands into fists as the tears started flowing and promptly stomped up the stairs to her room and slammed the door.

Jamie wiped his hands on a towel and started to walk after her. Eddie placed her hand on his chest to stop him. "You really think she wants to talk to someone of the male species right now? Especially her overprotective Dad who just happens to be a gun-wielding NYPD Police Captain? Nuh uh. I got this…"

Jamie nodded. "Okay, but let me know if I need to get my gun out. Because I'm serious. I _will_ kill him."

Eddie smiled. "Yes dear."

Eddie walked up the stairs and stopped in front of her daughter's room. She could hear the weeping through the door. "Nat? I'm coming in," she said as she gently turned the door knob.

Natalie was sprawled on her bed with her head buried under her pillow. "I don't want to talk about it," she muffled through her tears.

Eddie sat on the bed and placed a calming hand on Natalie's side. "Come here," she beckoned her daughter to sit up. Natalie followed through and rested her head in her mother's lap. Eddie immediately began stroking her hair. "You'll feel better if you talk about it. You know you can tell me anything and that I love you no matter what."

"I know," Natalie sniffed and took in a deep breath to calm down.

"What happened?" Eddie prompted.

Natalie wiped away her tears and sighed. "In auto mechanics class today, I did something really cool."

Eddie smiled. Natalie was their only child, and it made Jamie very happy to be able to pass on his love of tinkering with cars to his daughter. They would spend hours in the garage together working on his now classic Mustang. Both Eddie and Jamie were very proud of Natalie for being the only girl who dared to sign up for the auto mechanics class this semester. "Yeah? What?"

"Mr. Davis had a car in the garage that wouldn't start. He challenged us to figure out what was wrong with it. And none of the guys could figure it out. We all took turns looking at it. Derek thought for sure that it was the spark plugs, but it wasn't. I could tell right away that it was the fuel injector. So I fixed it. Then Derek's friends made fun of him all day about how I showed him up. So after school he told me that I embarrassed him and then he dumped me. Mom…it's just not fair! I thought it was cool that I fixed the car when no one else could! What's so wrong about being a girl who can fix cars? I thought Derek would have been proud of me! But instead I ended up being an embarrassment to him. Dad's proud of me for knowing about cars- why can't Derek be?"

"Oh Honey- girl, you and I are two peas in a pod," Eddie chuckled. "Let me tell you a story,"

"Aw Mom, please. Not another one of your 'What it's like to be a female cop in a male-dominated career' stories…" Natalie groaned.

"Shush and listen. I'm trying to help you!"

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Fine. Whatever. Go."

"Okay. So this was during the time when your Dad was being stupid and was too afraid to break up our partnership so that we could date even though he was in love with me. So while I was waiting around for him to come to his senses, I had a boyfriend named Josh. One night Josh decided it would be nice for me and him to go out on a double date and set your Dad up with Josh's sister-"

"Wait- that's dumb," Natalie interrupted. "Why would Dad want to go out on a date with you and your boyfriend if Dad was already in love with you?"

Eddie grimaced. "Yeah, it was complicated. ANYWAY…during the date, the restaurant we were at ended up getting robbed. And your Dad and I, well, we saved the day. We had to use our guns on the bad guys, but we stopped the robbery, and no one else got hurt. Except Josh- his male ego was hurt. Having a girlfriend who could put herself in the line of fire and take down a perp with a gun…well, let's just say he couldn't handle it. Just like Derek, Josh didn't like to be "shown up" by a girl.

"So he dumped you," Natalie guessed.

"Yes. And I was SO MAD. Just like you. But your Dad, he made me realize that not all men are like that. And that if Josh couldn't see me for the awesome cop and person that I was, then he didn't deserve me. Natalie…I don't ever want you to have to apologize or feel embarrassed for who you are and what you can do just because you're a girl. Because who you are is awesome. And if Derek can't see that, then he doesn't deserve you. Some day you will find someone who thinks everything you are and everything you do is cool, and that's how you'll know you found the right guy."

"Like how you knew Dad was the right guy."

"That was a big part of it, yeah."

Natalie sat there in silence letting all of this soak in.

Eddie suddenly got an idea. "Come here, I want to give you something." She grabbed her daughter's hand and led her out into the hall closet. Reaching up to the top shelf, she took down a dusty brown box. Opening the lid, she pulled out a ratty old T-shirt.

"Your Dad gave this to me that night, after Josh dumped me. I want you to have it."

Natalie opened up the shirt and read the faded message with a giggle. "I Kick Ass."

"That's right. You do. Wear it proudly. I did."

Natalie smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

"Dinner will be done in about a half hour."

"Okay. I'll be down. I'm just gonna get started on my homework."

Eddie nodded and walked back down to the kitchen where Jamie was reading the newspaper at the table.

"Everything okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, she'll live."

"So what happened?"

"Derek pulled a Josh," Eddie laughed.

"A Josh? What does that mean?"

"You know…JOSH…"

"Oh….OH. You mean, THAT Josh?"

"Yup. Your daughter fixed a car in auto mechanics class today that none of the other boys could fix."

Jamie's face turned sour as he threw down the newspaper. "So Derek can't handle our daughter's awesomeness? Who does that jerk think he is? I'll kill him."

"No you won't," Eddie smiled as she grabbed his hand. "She's gonna be fine. I gave her a nice pep talk. She knows Derek doesn't deserve her."

Jamie narrowed his eyes. "Sounds an awful lot like my pep talk."

"Pretty much word for word, yeah. It was a good pep talk."

"Of course it was a good pep talk. It was _my_ pep talk."

Eddie gave Jamie a sweet peck on the lips. "You kicked ass with your pep talk."

* * *

"Nat! Dinner's ready!" Eddie called as she set the plate of chicken on the table.

Jamie sat down and watched in amusement as his daughter came bounding down the stairs in a much better mood wearing THE SHIRT.

"You gave her the shirt?" Jamie whispered.

"Of course I gave her the shirt!" Eddie whispered back. "How could I give her the pep talk and not give her the shirt?"

"Did you tell her that she was conceived while I was ripping that shirt off you?" he smirked.

Eddie hit him hard in the shoulder. "Of course not! I wanted to help her out, not gross her out!"

Natalie was oblivious to her parent's conversation as she sat down at the table.

"Nice shirt!" Jamie told her as he placed a kiss on the top of her head. "It suits you. Feeling better?"

Natalie smiled at her dad. "Yeah. Hey Dad, guess what I did today in auto mechanics class!"


End file.
